Free Telecom Daily Newsletter Get the latest news on Telcos, Next Generation Networks, Broadband, and other critical service provider topics sent straight to your Inbox. Join over 48,000 telecom professionals who subscribe to FierceTelecom for FREE!

Bell Aliant has set Quebec as the next target for its FibreOP service, announcing that it is investing $70 million to extend the reach of its fiber to the home (FTTH) network to 125,000 premises in seven Quebec communities.

The rollout will be done in two phases. During the first phase, which is set to begin this fall, the service provider will bring FibreOP to five communities: Alma, Saguenay (including Chicoutimi, Jonquière and La Baie), Saint-Félicien, Thetford Mines and Victoriaville. Other communities, including Rivière-du-Loup and Roberval, will be added by the end of the year.

This latest network expansion follows successful rollouts in Atlantic Canada and Ontario and across the Quebec City region. It said that the response to Bell Canada's Fibe service in Quebec City, its fastest growing residential market, "has been overwhelmingly positive."

Expansion of FTTH has been swift.

Today, the service provider has rolled out the service to over 827,000 premises in more than 70 communities throughout Atlantic Canada and Ontario. The company said it is on track to meet its FTTH footprint target of 1 million available premises by the end of 2014.

Customer uptake for the FTTH service continues to rise. Bell Aliant won't report second-quarter earnings until Aug. 1, but in the first quarter it reported that it added 16,000 new FibreOP Internet customers, ending the quarter with a total of 200,000 subscribers.